New Oil Contracts on Agenda: Iranian Minister

Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh predicted that his ministry would sign 10 new contracts, mostly on the development of oilfields, by the end of the current Iranian year (March 2018).

Given the serious negotiations with other parties, it is predicted that some 10 new oil contracts will be signed until the end of the current Iranian year, Zanganeh said in a radio program on Monday.

As regards the main projects following the July contract on development of the 11th phase of the South Pars gas field, Zanganeh pointed to enhancement plans in the South Pars oil layers and development projects in various oilfields such as Azar, Sohrab, Abteimour, Mansouri and Azadegan.

In early July, the Oil Ministry signed a $5 billion contract with France’s Total and China’s National Petroleum Company (CNPC) on development of the 11th phase of South Pars gas field.

Total has a 50.1 percent share in the 20-year deal. The state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. has a 30 percent stake and Iran’s Petropars has 19.9 percent.